From The Oldest and the Newest
Empire;
China and the United StatesBy William SpeerCincinnati: National Publishing Co., 1870

[Speer's book is mainly a description of China, but it
includes several chapters on the Chinese in America, drawn
from his observations in the West and his acquaintances among
the immigrant community in California. As part of his
polemical description of the discrimination and abuses they
have suffered, Speer includes the following remonstrance from
the Chinese themselves. It was written, he writes, by Mr. Pun
Chi, at the request of a group of Chinese merchants and other
"leading men" in San Francisco, and given to Speer to
translate and lay before the American public.

Speer's book also included the following illustrations of the
Chinese in America, which are noticeably less stereotypical
than most depictions.]

A REMONSTRANCE FROM THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA
TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES.

The sincere and gracious attention of your honorable
body is earnestly requested to the consideration of certain
matters important to our peace as foreigners, the following
statements of which may be relied upon as certainly true
and correct:

We are natives of the empire of China, each following
some employment or profession--literary men, farmers,
mechanics or merchants. When your honorable government
threw open the territory of California, the people of other
lands were welcomed here to search for gold and to engage
in trade. The ship-masters of your respected nation came
over to our country, lauded the equality of your laws,
extolled the beauty of your manners and customs, and made
it known that your officers and people were extremely
cordial toward the Chinese. Knowing well the harmony which
had existed between our respective governments, we trusted
in your sincerity. Not deterred by the long voyage, we came
here presuming that our arrival would be hailed with
cordiality and favor. But, alas! what times are
these!--when former kind relations are forgotten, when we
Chinese are viewed like thieves and enemies, when in the
administration of justice our testimony is not received,
when in the legal collection of the licenses we are injured
and plundered, and villains of other nations are encouraged
to rob and do violence to us! Our numberless wrongs it is
most painful even to recite. At the present time, if we
desire to quit the country, we are not possessed of the
pecuniary means; if allowed to remain, we dread future
troubles. But yet, on the other hand, it is our presumption
that the conduct of the officers of justice here has been
influenced by temporary prejudices and that your honorable
government will surely not uphold their acts. We are
sustained by the confidence that the benevolence of your
eminent body, contemplating the people of the whole world
as one family, will most assuredly not permit the Chinese
population without guilt to endure injuries to so cruel a
degree. We would therefore present the following twelve
subjects for consideration at your bar. We earnestly pray
that you would investigate and weigh them; that you would
issue instructions to your authorities in each State that
they shall cast away their partial and unjust practices,
restore tranquillity to us strangers, and that you would
determine whether we are to leave the country or to remain.
Then we will endure ensuing calamities without repining,
and will cherish for you sincere gratitude and most
profound respect.

The twelve subjects, we would state with great respect,
are as follows:

1. The unrighteousness of humiliating and
hating
the Chinese as a people.

We have heard that your honorable nation reverences
Heaven. But if they comprehend the reverence that is due to
the heavenly powers, of necessity they cannot humiliate and
hate the Chinese. Why do we aver this? At the very
beginning of time, Heaven produced a most holy man, whose
name was Pwan-ku. He was the progenitor of the people of
China. All succeeding races have branched off from them.
The central part of the earth is styled by its inhabitants
the Middle Flowery Kingdom. That is the country of the
Chinese. The regions occupied by later races are
distributed round and subordinate to it. Heaven causes it
to produce in the greatest variety and abundance, so that
of all under the sky this country is the greatest, and has
bestowed upon it perfect harmony with the powers of nature,
so that all things there attain the highest perfection.
Hence we see that Heaven most loves our Chinese people, and
multiplies its gifts to them beyond any other race.

From the time of Pwan-ku till the present, a period of
many tens of thousand of years, there have been born among
us a host of sages, such as Fu-hi, Shin-nung, Hwaug-ti,
Yau, Shun, Yu, Pang, Wan, Wu and Chaukung. Gifted by
Heaven, they attained consummate excellence. Their
beneficent influence extended not alone around them, it
shed peace upon all nations. In the days of Yau our people
were styled the Tang, which has been a favorite designation
of themselves until now. After some centuries, Heaven again
produced a sage preeminent and alone in his excellence,
whose name was Confucius, whom it made the great teacher of
China. He combined what was greatest and best in all that
preceded him, and became the teacher and exemplar of all
ages. As to things on high, he showed men the fear of
Heaven; as to things on earth, he taught them virtue. The
sages of whom we have spoken had the wisdom to discern that
all men on earth are one family. Now what is meant in
styling all men on earth one family? It is, that the people
of China, or of countries foreign to it, are all embraced,
as it were, in one great circle of kindred, with its
parents and children, its elder and younger branches, its
bonds of unity; the pervading principle, love; no one
member debased, none treated with dislike. Again, after
several centuries, Heaven brought forth one Jesus, and
ordained him to be a teacher to foreign lands. Now Jesus
also taught mankind the fear of Heaven. He showed that the
chief end is to pray for eternal life. He comprehended the
reverence due to Heaven, and the obligations of virtue. He
was in accord with the holy men of China. He looked on all
beneath the sky as one great family. He did not permit
distinctions of men into classes to be loved or despised.
But now, if the religion of Jesus really teaches the fear
of Heaven, how does it come that the people of your
honorable country on the contrary trample upon and hate the
race which Heaven most loves, that is, the Chinese? Should
this not be called rebellion against Heaven? And how is it
possible to receive this as of the religion of Heaven?

2. An appeal to the principle which lies at the
foundation
of Chinese government and society.

The wise men of China plant at the very foundation of
government the idea of virtue, not that of physical power,
just as do those professing the religion of Jesus Christ.
Virtue is that which commands the intuitive submission of
the human will. Great vessels of war and powerful artillery
may destroy cities and devastate a country. That is
physical power. But moral power is essentially different
from mechanical power. The noblest illustration of moral
power is the teacher at the head of his school--as much so
as the locomotive and the telegraph are of mechanical
skill. It is the spirit of man that deserves respect, not
his form. If the spirit be noble and good, although the man
be poor and humble, his features homely and his apparel
mean, we honor him and love him. If the spirit be not so,
though the man have wealth and position, though his
countenance be beautiful and his clothing rich, we regard
him with contempt and dislike. But we do affirm that the
reason why the people of your honorable country dislike the
Chinese is this, and no other--they look at the plain
appearance and the patched clothes of their poor, and they
do not think how many spirits there are among them whom
they could respect and love.

3. A brief statement of the manner in which our
Chinese government
acts toward foreigners.

China possesses a mutual trade with all foreign lands.
When a man from another country arrives in China, none of
our officers and common people treat him otherwise than
with respect and kindness. In case he be defrauded or
injured, where it is a small matter the offender is fined
or punished corporeally; in a graver one he forfeits his
life. Even though there be no witnesses, still the local
officers must thoroughly inquire into the circumstances. In
murders and brawls, if the criminal be not discovered the
magistrate is called to account and degraded from his
office. When a foreigner commits a deed of violence against
a Chinese, a spirit of great leniency and care is
manifested in the judgment of the case. Not because there
is not power to punish. But we sincerely dread to mar the
beautiful idea of gentleness and benignity toward the
stranger from afar.

Now why is it that, when our people come to your
country, instead of being welcomed with unusual respect and
kindness, on the contrary they are treated with unusual
contempt and evil? Hence many lose their lives at the hands
of lawless wretches. Yet though there be Chinese witnesses
of the crime, their testimony is rejected. The result is
our utter abandonment to be murdered and that of our
business to be ruined. How hard for the spirit to sustain
such trials! It is true some persons reply that the Chinese
who come here are of no advantage to the country. Yet if a
calculation be made only of the amount of licenses we pay,
the value of our trade, the revenue to steamers, stage
companies and other interests, amounting to several
millions of dollars per annum, can it be affirmed that we
are of no advantage? But, besides, it is to be considered
that we Chinese are universally a law-abiding people and
that our conduct is very different from the lawlessness and
violence of some other foreigners. Were it not that each so
little understands the other's tongue, and mutual kind
sentiments are not communicated, would not more cordial
intercourse probably exist?

4. The perpetual vexations of the Chinese.

The class that engage in digging gold are, as a whole,
poor people. We go on board the ships. There we find
ourselves unaccustomed to winds and waves and to the
extremes of heat and cold. We eat little; we grieve much.
Our appearance is plain and our clothing poor. At once,
when we leave the vessel, boatmen extort heavy fares; all
kinds of conveyances require from us more than the usual
charges; as we go on our way we are pushed and kicked and
struck by the drunken and the brutal; but as we cannot
speak your language, we bear our injuries and pass on. Even
when within doors, rude boys throw sand and bad men stones
after us. Passers by, instead of preventing these
provocations, add to them by their laughter. We go up to
the mines; there the collectors of the licenses make
unlawful exactions and robbers strip, plunder, wound and
even murder some of us. Thus we are plunged into endless
uncommiserated wrongs. But the first root of them all is
that very degradation and contempt of the Chinese as a race
of which we have spoken, which begins with your honorable
nation, but which they communicate to people from other
countries, who carry it to greater lengths.

Now what injury have we Chinese done to your honorable
people that they should thus turn upon us and make us drink
the cup of wrong even to its last poisonous dregs?

5. Fatal injuries unpunished.

Your Supreme Court has decided that the Chinese shall
not bring action or give testimony against white men. Of
how great wrongs is this the consummation! To the death of
how many of us has it led! In cases that are brought before
your officers of justice, inasmuch as we are unable to
obtain your people as witnesses, even the murderer is
immediately set free! Sanctioned by this, robbers of
foreign nations commit the greatest excesses. It is a small
thing with them to drive us away and seize our property.
They proceed to do violence and kill us; they go on in a
career of bloodshed without limit, since they find there
are none to bear testimony against them. Let us mention
some cases. In the third year of the present emperor, and
seventh month, at B----, Yu Lin-shing, a Chinese, was shot
and killed by an American. The murderer was apprehended and
brought to the place of justice. He was released without
condemnation. In the ninth month, at S----, Yu Waingok was
murdered by a foreigner. In the same month, at B----, one
of our countrymen was killed by an Indian. In the fourth
year, second month, near M----, a man named Chiu Man-sze
was shot with arrows, by Indians, and killed. In the sixth
month, in L----, Liu Kiu was put to death by an American;
the murderer was captured and put in prison; but, as usual,
was released without trial. In the eleventh month, a
Spaniard robbed and murdered one of our countrymen. In the
fifth year, on the fourth day of the fifth month, a
collector of the mining licenses killed Ching Ping, at
P----. About the middle of the same month, at M----, the
collectors of the licenses killed three men because they
would not pay more than was justly due; their names were Wa
Hon, A-Tang and A-Sui.

It would be impossible to enumerate the men that have
been killed; we have mentioned these as a few of them. To
collect a catalogue of crimes is certainly noy a work of
pleasure. But behold the root of them all in the prejudice
and hate of your honorable nation! In cases where it is
possible to procure the testimony of your people as to an
injury, the Chinese may obtain reparation; but suppose
there are occasions where, if none of your people know of a
crime, Chinese were allowed to take up the case and to
state their acquaintance with it, some of these stains of
blood would not continue unwashed. Some object that the
Chinese bear false witness. Do such not know that the
Chinese do not understand your language?--or that within
your courts of justice, too, there are corrupt men?--or
that in the strifes of public litigation there may be found
men of every country who will bear false testimony? Why,
then, is this burden laid upon us Chinese alone? Suppose
there be false witness borne, are the judges of your
honorable country blind and stupid, so that they cannot
discern it and estimate testimony at its value? Because
here and there a Chinese or two has proved a perjurer,
shall it prejudice our entire nation? Shall this degrade us
beneath the negro and the Indian? This is a great
injustice, such as is not heard of in our Middle Kingdom!
It injures your fair name. Every nation under heaven mocks
at you. Hence it is not alone we Chinese that suffer, but
blessings are lost thereby to your own land.

6. The persecution of the Chinese miners.

If a Chinese earns a dollar and a half in gold per day,
his first desire is to go to an American and buy a mining
claim. But should this yield a considerable result, the
seller, it is possible, compels him to relinquish it.
Perhaps robbers come and strip him of the gold. He dare not
resist, since he cannot speak the language, and has not the
power to withstand them. On the other hand, those who have
no means to buy a claim seek some ground which other miners
have dug over and left, and thus obtain a few dimes. From
the proceeds of a hard day's toil, after the pay for food
and clothes very little remains. It is hard for them to be
prepared to meet the collector when he comes for the
license money. If such a one turns his thoughts back to the
time when he came here, perhaps he remembers that then he
borrowed the money for his passage and expenses from his
kindred and friends, or perhaps he sold all his property to
obtain it; and how bitter those thoughts are! In the course
of four years, out of each ten men that have come over
scarcely more than one or two get back again. Among those
who cannot do so, the purse is often empty; and the trials
of many of them are worthy of deep compassion. Thus it is
evident that the gold mines are truly of little advantage
to the Chinese. Yet the legislature questions whether it
shall not increase the license; that is, increase trouble
upon trouble! It is pressing us to death. If it is your
will that Chinese shall not dig the gold of your honorable
country, then fix a limit as to time, say, for instance,
three years, within which every man of them shall provide
means to return to his own country. Thus we shall not
perish in a foreign land. Thus mutual kindly sentiments
shall be restored again.

7. The irregularities of the collectors of the
license.

These occur wherever the Chinese are engaged in mining;
and they are not the acts of one man. The collectors of the
license have no appointed districts: one man comes at this
time, and a stranger the next. They have no appointed
period: some come for the month's dues to-day, and
to-morrow they require them again. In collecting from the
miners who have money they extort heavy amounts besides. To
miners who have none they refuse to grant time, and then
demand the sums which they owe from other persons. If these
refuse to pay them, the collectors seize their purses and
take their last grain of gold. Should the Chinese dispute
with them, they assault there with pistols and other
weapons, and some of the miners may lose their lives, and
there is no redress. Hence, when it is reported that the
collectors are coming, those who have no gold are forced to
fly in terror; those who could pay are thus frightened and
follow; then they are pursued and beaten, perhaps killed.
Occurrences like these are common. They all arise from the
rapacity of the collectors and from the want of just
regulations. Now we ask, first, that, in the collection of
the licenses, each district shall be allotted to a certain
man; that the boundaries of it shall be clearly defined;
that other collectors shall not be allowed to come within
them; that the day of each month when the collector will
receive the license-money shall be previously published by
placards; that on the payment of the four dollars he shall
give the miner a written receipt as evidence, to prevent
his being compelled to pay the money again; and that in the
cases of those who are unable to pay, firstly, some
extension of time may be granted; if at the second demand
they still have no means to pay, security may be required
from their fellow-miners, with some further extension of
time; at the third demand, if neither they nor their
security are ready to pay, then their property may be
seized for the amount. There are none of us who would not
gladly submit to such regulations as these. They would be
just to both parties. And your losses from the miners
running away or hiding their money would cease.

8. Usages to which, we object.

Our people have been Told of the excellence of the
institutions of your honorable country; but when they have
come to the new State of California, they have found them
to be strange indeed. We know not from what nation came the
men that have taken the lead in creating this condition of
things, nor where rests the obligation of reforming it, but
you cannot be ignorant of some things the truth of which we
have seen and known. Allow us briefly to speak of them.
Causes at law are not judged according to what is true or
false; the strongest faction is counted to have the truth.
In contentions between men it is not considered what is
crooked and what is straight; sufficient money makes a
man's claim appear straight. The treatment of men is not
regulated by their characters for virtue or for vice; a
fine exterior is accepted for virtue. New laws are
constantly published, only to be changed again in a brief
time. Suits that should be determined are postponed again
and again. A person of purity and integrity appears in
court and he is but ridiculed and insulted the more; a
violent and wicked man, and he is paid the more respect.
Cases involving money come before these tribunals, and they
excite covetousness; cases of property, and they create
envy of a man's abundance. Murder is allowed to escape
without the forfeit of life; robbery occurs without the
apprehension of the offender. False rumors are made a
pretext to arrest men; officers apprehend the innocent in
order to oppress and fine them. They practice neither
humanity nor justice. Their ambition and their schemes
terminate simply in gold and silver. Justice demands that
political institutions such as these should speedily be
reformed, or you will meet with the scorn of the whole
world.

9. A request for the adjustment of the difficulties
in
regard to abandoned women.

At first all the abandoned women who came to California
from Hong-kong were boat-women from the seacoast: one of
them arrived here during the first year of Hien-fung
(1851). At that time, we Chinese proper, fearing that other
people would mistake these for our own females, and thus
disgraceful conceptions of us be spread abroad, specially
requested your authorities to banish them. But the local
authorities, not comprehending the evil, would not consent
to their removal. From that time the number of those coming
has constantly increased, and the flood of poison has
become more and more wide and deep. It is now our request
that you will enact laws for the correction of this
grievance. We beseech you to stringently require commanders
of vessels, while they carry these women away, to bring no
more of them back. And a time should be fixed within which
all here shall be compelled to leave, themselves providing
the means, and returning to their own people. Thus will we
be rid of this spreading poison and be relieved of this
disgrace.

10. A petition that gambling may be severely
punished.

In our Middle Kingdom gambling is forbidden by law.
Formerly, on account of its not being forbidden in your
honorable country, many men learned this vice, and the
results have been deeply injurious. Now we are fortunate in
having a law against it passed by you and put into
operation. If only men knew that they must rigidly obey it,
and if from this time forth there shall be no secret
granting of licenses, then we might hope that those who had
learned this vice might return to honest occupations.

11. A request in regard to the management of
criminal cases.

At present, people from all nations are coming
indiscriminately to your honorable country. Certainly many
of them are good; but there are also bad persons among
them. It constantly happens that the good are compelled to
reap some of the fruits of the evil deeds of the vicious.
Among our Chinese there are some bad people; and only the
Chinese can know who they are. If you will permit the
Chinese merchants, they will prepare private statements as
to such persons, vouching for them by the signature of
their names. Thus rogues may be justly punished, and will
understand that the laws are to be respected, and will be
deterred from the commission of crimes; and they will
return to the ways of virtue.

12. A request for an enactment appointing a time
when
the Chinese shall finally return to their own
land.

When we were first favored with the invitations of your
ship-captains to emigrate to California, and heard the
laudations which they published of the perfect and
admirable character of your institutions, and were told of
your exceeding respect and love toward the Chinese, we
could hardly have calculated that we would now be the
objects of your excessive hatred--that your courts would
refuse us the right of testimony; your legislature load us
with increasing taxes and devise means how to wholly expel
us; your collectors, even before the law is made, begin to
demand larger sums, and to compel the month's payment for
shorter periods than that time; that foreign villains,
witnessing your degrading treatment of us, would assume the
right to harass, plunder and rob us, possibly kill us; that
injuries of every hind would be inflicted on us, and
unceasing wrongs be perpetrated; that if we would desire to
go, we would be unable to do so, and if we desired to
remain, we could not. But now if, finally, you do not will
that we should mine and traffic in your honorable country,
we beg that you will fix by law a limit of three years,
within which we may collect our property and return to our
country; and that you will strictly forbid your
ship-captains to use inducements for people to come, and,
if they do not obey, severely punish them. Thus we will
endeavor after the lapse of three years to leave upon your
honorable soil not a trace of the Chinese population. If,
on the other hand, you grant us as formerly to mine and
trade here, then it is our request that you will give
instructions to your courts that they shall again receive
Chinese testimony; that they shall cease their incessant
discussions about expelling the Chinese; that they shall
quit their frequent agitations as to raising the license
fees; that they shall allow the Chinese peace in the
pursuit of their proper employments; and that they shall
effectually repress the acts of violence common among the
mountains, so that robbers shall not upon one pretext or
another injure and plunder us. Thus shall your
distinguished favor revive us like a continual
dew.